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COVER ‘I might see them for a variety of reasons. We’ve identified things like follow ups to medicines reviews. For example, in your medication review you may have made five or six recommendations. Typically the GP may implement two or three of those in the first instance. But with the tyranny of time the report gets pushed under paperwork and lost in the medical file. Those other things are often forgotten about, or over the course of time your recommendations may have changed because the patient’s condition may have changed. ‘Being able to follow up the patient in that short consultation clinic, where I see the first and the GP sees them directly afterward, I can help facilitate the uptake of those recommendations or change my recommendations based on the condition of the patient. ‘I may also see them for specific things. For example, if they don’t require a comprehensive review it might be just one particular point. You might have a patient with uncontrolled blood pressure and the GP specifically wants to know what they should trial next in terms of medicines management. I could see them in that short consultation clinic, make a suggestion and they would see the GP to have it enacted. ‘That doesn’t require a comprehensive medicines review. It’s just focussed on one particular issue. ‘Some of the other things that would lend themselves to that sort of model are assessments of adverse drug reactions. Quite often I see patients with skin reactions where the GP queries whether it might be due to a medication and asks if I am able to see the patient, consult with them and make a recommendation to what I think it might be. ‘Those two things are moving forward,’ he said. PILOT FUNDING The NHS England has announced a £15 (Aust $31m) pilot project that will fund pharmacists to work in English GP surgeries. The pilot is supported by Health Education England, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the British Medical Association’s GP Committee and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and builds on the experiences of general practices that already have clinical pharmacists in patient facing roles, in some cases as partners. Responding to the announcement RPS English Board Chair Sandra Gidley said: ‘This substantial investment by NHS England shows the confidence that the NHS has in the pharmacy profession to deliver direct patient care. We are now seeing the results of our joint work with RCGP, which will provide an opportunity for pharmacists, from a range of backgrounds, to use their skills as part of the general practice team, improving patient care. ‘This is delivery on a large scale of one of the RPS English Pharmacy Board’s key campaign ambitions, to have pharmacists working in GP practices in England, improving patient care.’ ‘Many pharmacists and GPs already work closely to resolve day to day medicine issues, particularly for patients with long term conditions and who are taking a number of different medications. I am particularly pleased that these new roles emphasise the importance of liaison with hospitals, community pharmacists and care homes to ensure seamless care for patients. ‘The RPS will continue to work closely with RCGP and NHS England, supporting the profession, to ensure this scheme is successful,’ Ms Gidley said. According to the NHS, practices have already suggested that this extended role could include managing care for people with self-limiting illnesses and long-term conditions and have asked that the new team members have the ability to independently prescribe. The pilot will be part funded for three years with an expectation that practices will continue with the role into year four and beyond. The NHS anticipates that roughly 250 clinical pharmacists will be involved over that period ‘with the ambition of supporting over 1 million patients.’